The surging campaign of Arizona Sen. John McCain and his ability to draw independent and Democratic voters worries some ISU Democrats, but others do not see it as a threat to Vice President Al Gore or former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley.

Sarah Leonard, former Gore intern, said the Democrats who supported McCain will not stay with him, as they did with President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

“Reagan converted Reagan Democrats, and they stayed converted for two elections,” Leonard said. “McCain is taking a different approach; he is renting Democratic voters. He passed out literature in Michigan that said, ‘Vote for me in the primary, then you can go back.'”

However, John Klein, member of Students for Bradley, said Democrats have supported McCain in open primaries because they agree with his ideology more so than that of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and they would not have a problem voting for him in November.

“I have talked to a lot of Democrats who say that they like McCain a lot more than Bush. I like him more, and most Democrats wouldn’t see it as much of a tragedy if McCain became president,” said Klein, freshman in political science.

Klein said he thought McCain’s non-Republican supporters might stick with him if he ends up with the nomination.

“It is possible that McCain will pull in some Democrats and keep them. You have to appeal to the moderates to win, as Clinton did. McCain has a lot of good points,” he said.

Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science, said if McCain doesn’t start gaining more support from Republicans, he won’t be able to win the Republican nomination.

“He might draw in some Democrats who don’t like Al Gore, but at this point, it’s a problem because it seems that not so many Republicans are with him,” Schmidt said. “A lot of Republicans don’t like McCain because he fights with other Republicans.”

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, said she thought McCain “appeals to more independents than Democrats.”

“Only a small proportion of Democrats voted for McCain in the Michigan and South Carolina,” she said.

Bystrom said Democratic front-runner Gore should be pleased with the competition McCain is giving Bush, which seemed unlikely early in the campaign.

“As far as Al Gore, in the short term he should be happy because McCain is forcing Bush to spend more money and weaken Bush’s support,” she said.

Leonard said she does not think Gore will be affected at all by McCain’s campaign because the senator soon will be forced to drop out of the race.

“Bush will win the next couple of Republican primaries because he has been winning the Republican vote two to one,” she said. “The next primaries are Republican-only, including Super Tuesday. McCain has said that he will go until March 7, so he knows; he knows he will have to quit.”